Hi Everyone! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve done an entry. First it was that I was super busy with my final semester of grad school and all the hoopla of graduation. Then I felt that I didn’t have anything important to say or any big news to share. Well that changed last Saturday.
There are three wedding details that in my mind have to be perfect – invitations, our cake, and my dress. Last Saturday I took care of the dress. I went to several appointments prior to Saturday and narrowed it down to three dresses. I wanted my dress shopping experience to be something that my mother and I shared. I’m her only daughter and she didn’t have this opportunity with her own mother. First, my parents got married at City Hall. Second, my mother and grandmother don’t have that type of relationship. Anyway, my dress was supposed to be a special mother/daughter moment.
A month before the big day, my mom calls me and says that she thinks I should ask my aunt to come along. Our conversation went something like this:
Mom: You should ask your aunt to come along.
Me: No. This is OUR day.
Mom: It won’t hurt. It’ll be nice.
Me: But Moooooom…. (Yeah, I said it like I five year old).
Mom: Ummmmm….how old are you? Anyway, just do it for me.
Me: Yeah, ok.
Those that know me personally know that I can NEVER tell my mother no. It's not that I don't try. No is usually the first response. However, my mother has a way of convincing me aka making me feel guilty, until I change my mind.
There are three wedding details that in my mind have to be perfect – invitations, our cake, and my dress. Last Saturday I took care of the dress. I went to several appointments prior to Saturday and narrowed it down to three dresses. I wanted my dress shopping experience to be something that my mother and I shared. I’m her only daughter and she didn’t have this opportunity with her own mother. First, my parents got married at City Hall. Second, my mother and grandmother don’t have that type of relationship. Anyway, my dress was supposed to be a special mother/daughter moment.
A month before the big day, my mom calls me and says that she thinks I should ask my aunt to come along. Our conversation went something like this:
Mom: You should ask your aunt to come along.
Me: No. This is OUR day.
Mom: It won’t hurt. It’ll be nice.
Me: But Moooooom…. (Yeah, I said it like I five year old).
Mom: Ummmmm….how old are you? Anyway, just do it for me.
Me: Yeah, ok.
Those that know me personally know that I can NEVER tell my mother no. It's not that I don't try. No is usually the first response. However, my mother has a way of convincing me aka making me feel guilty, until I change my mind.
So on the day of me, my mom and aunt went to make the final decision on my dress. We arrived at my 10am appointment bright and early. We looked at shoes, played with veils and hair accessories and tried on my top three contenders. When I stepped out in my favorite dress I knew it was the one. My aunt looked like she was going to cry and my mom was speechless. I turned and looked in the mirror. The dress was perfect. When the consultant added the headpiece and veil I just knew that was the dress I wanted to walk down the aisle in. This was the dress that was going to take me from Miss to Mrs. I discussed cost with the consultant. I had stayed well within the $2,000 dress budget that my honey had set for me. **Side note: Maybe I just don't have the bride gene, but I refused to spend that much money on a dress that I would have on for like five hours. My dress was $700. Holla!!!!**
So after, calculating the price for my dress, veil and headpiece, I walked to the front of the store to pay. I had my American Express ready to go when my aunt beat me to the punch!! I turned and looked at her. My actually words were "Wait...what?!?” My aunt surprised me by paying for my dress. I burst into tears in the middle of the store which started a chain reaction of crying between my aunt, my mom, the consultant and some random people that were standing at the front of the store. I just couldn't believe her generosity. I just kept saying thank you and how much I appreciated her and what she had done. Later on she told me that most of what I said was inaudible and sounded like a bunch of gibberish, but she got the point. Apparently, she had told my mom that she wanted to buy my dress the day she found out I was getting married.
I learned a valuable lesson that day: Sometimes it pays to just listen to people (that you trust) and go with the flow. Even though I had wanted dress shopping to be a "Mommy and Me" experience, I would have missed out on my blessing if I didn't listen to my mother. Needless to say the experience was still as wonderful, if not better!
